A concise guide to the world of cinema, tv, and games through the eyes of a sociopath

Plank Face (2016)

Plot: A young couple decides to bang it out on the hood of their car, unaware of a large, lumbering man who approaches. The man, also wearing a wooden mask, drives an ax down into the male, killing him instantly. The female however is able to grab the masked man’s knife and shank him a few times. She runs, but is cut down when the masked man throws the knife into her back. Soon after, another couple heads into the woods and they too run into some strange folks. While he gathers firewood, Max (Nathan Barrett) is choked from behind and left semi-conscious. The man who attacked him then turns his attention to Max’s girlfriend, Stacey (Ellie Church). He begins to rape her, but Max turns the tables and rams a knife up the guy’s ass. But he is then knocked out by a girl in a rabbit mask, only to awake in a rustic home surrounded by dirty, strange rednecks. What does this band of backwoods people want with Max and even if he is able to survive, will he ever be the same again?

Entertainment Value: This movie opens with a hot girl getting naked, mid-sex murder, and anal knife rape. Plank Face means business. I have a soft spot for these hill people kind of flicks and Plank Face delivers, with a fresh take on the “primal urges override all” concept this sub-genre loves so much. The journey of more normal folk giving in to their primal side is well worn, but Plank Face doesn’t feel like a retread. I know some dislike how quickly Max gives in and the film does rely on just one line of dialogue to justify it, but it works. The resistance he does offer up seems sufficient and come on, they might be dirty, but these girls are hot. To have explored it more might have slowed the pace too much, so I think the filmmakers made the right call. More than just a backwoods slasher, Plank Face is an atmospheric, unsettling experience.

A beautiful girl shows her jugs within a few minutes of the film’s start, then bends over to let the camera see her ass as well. In other words, yeah Plank Face has some nudity. These girls are dirty and I mean literally, caked in mud, blood, shit, and whatever else the woods has to offer. The two feral girls show it all and so does Plank Face, so his floppy dong is out and about a lot too. The sex scenes are not romantic in the usual sense, but the primal nature of them is a sight to see. One scene where Plank Face has rough sex with one of the feral girls is a highlight. There’s also a good amount of blood and being good hill people, they partake of their victims as meals. The gore isn’t graphic for the most part, but a couple scenes push the bloodshed a little. I wish the knife based anal rape wasn’t off screen, as that could have been epic. Not much dialogue in Plank Face period, let alone whimsical lines to quote to your friends. This is a dark, unnerving film at times, but it doesn’t have a chaotic tone. So Plank Face is by no means a normal movie experience, but don’t expect lunacy or total madness either.